What Is the Age of Majority in Virginia: Rights, Duties, and Exceptions

In Virginia, the age of majority is 18. You become a legal adult automatically on your 18th birthday, with no paperwork, court order, or ceremony required.1Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 1-204 – Age of Majority That one date flips a long list of switches at once: you can sign contracts, vote, make your own medical decisions, and marry, but you also take on full adult criminal liability and civic duties. A handful of adult privileges still wait until 21.

Rights You Gain at 18

The biggest practical change is the power to enter contracts in your own name. Before 18, most agreements a minor signs are voidable, which is why landlords and lenders will not deal with them directly. Once you turn 18, you can sign an apartment lease, take out a car loan, or apply for a credit card yourself. One federal catch: credit card applicants under 21 still need to show independent income to cover minimum payments, or bring in a cosigner.

Other rights that start at 18 in Virginia:

  • Register and vote in local, state, and federal elections. Virginia lets you pre-register before 18 if you will reach voting age by the next general election.
  • File or defend a lawsuit in your own name. Minors can only sue through a parent or appointed “next friend.”2Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 8.01-8 – How Minors May Sue
  • Make a legally valid will directing where your property goes.
  • Marry. Virginia’s minimum marriage age is 18, with no exceptions, even with parental consent.3Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 20-48 – Minimum Age of Marriage
  • Enlist in any branch of the armed forces without a parent’s signature.
  • Work without the hour and job-type restrictions that apply to minors.

Medical Decisions and Health Privacy

Turning 18 draws an abrupt line between your parents and your medical information. Under federal HIPAA rules, healthcare providers can no longer share your records, test results, or treatment details with your parents without your written permission.4U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Personal Representatives and Minors The same shift happens with school records: once you turn 18, the access rights your parents had under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act transfer to you.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 20 USC 1232g – Family Educational Rights and Privacy

There is a serious catch families often miss. If you are in an accident or become too ill to speak for yourself, your parents do not have automatic authority to make medical decisions or see your chart. Virginia law sets a priority list of people who can authorize care for an incapacitated adult, and parents sit below a spouse or adult child. The fix is to sign an advance directive naming a parent or another trusted person as your healthcare agent. The document has to be signed in front of two witnesses, and you can complete one as soon as you turn 18.6Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code Article 8 – Health Care Decisions Act For routine conversations with your doctors, you will also need to sign a HIPAA authorization form at each provider’s office.

Before 18, Virginia already lets minors consent on their own to a short list of sensitive services, including treatment for sexually transmitted infections, birth control, outpatient substance abuse treatment, and outpatient mental health care.7Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 54.1-2969 – Authority to Consent to Surgical and Medical Treatment of Certain Minors At 18, that narrow authority expands to cover every medical decision.

Responsibilities That Come With Adulthood

Adult rights come with adult accountability. If you are charged with a crime at 18 or older, you face the adult criminal justice system and its full penalty range, including prison and a permanent criminal record. A felony conviction follows you well past any sentence: you lose the right to vote until the Governor restores your civil rights,8Restore Your Right to Vote. Restoration of Rights Process and you are permanently barred from possessing firearms or explosives.9Justia Law. Virginia Code 18.2-308.2 – Possession or Transportation of Firearms by Convicted Felons The Governor’s restoration process does not reach firearm rights.

You also take on your financial life in full. With narrow exceptions covered below, your parents have no legal obligation to support you after 18, and you are personally liable for every contract you sign. Default on a credit card or break a lease and the creditor can sue you directly.

Two civic duties start at 18. Virginia requires all citizens 18 and older who meet residency rules to be available for jury service.10Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 8.01-337 – Who Liable to Serve as Jurors Federal law also requires male citizens and residents between 18 and 25 to be registered with the Selective Service System. As of late 2026, that registration happens automatically rather than requiring you to sign up.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3802 – Automatic Registration Not being registered can disqualify you from federal student financial aid and other government benefits.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3811 – Offenses and Penalties

What Happens to Child Support and Custody

A child turning 18 generally ends a parent’s court-ordered child support obligation. Virginia law provides one automatic extension: support must continue past 18 if the child is a full-time high school student, is not self-supporting, and lives with the parent who receives the payments. That extended obligation runs until graduation or the child’s 19th birthday, whichever comes first.13Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 20-124.2 – Court-Ordered Custody and Visitation Arrangements

Support can continue indefinitely for a child with a severe and permanent mental or physical disability that existed before the child turned 18 (or 19, if the high school extension applied), as long as the child cannot live independently and remains in the home of the parent receiving support.13Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 20-124.2 – Court-Ordered Custody and Visitation Arrangements Parents can also agree between themselves to extend support beyond these cutoffs and have the court confirm the agreement. Virginia courts cannot order a parent to pay college tuition as part of child support; that has to come from a voluntary written agreement.

Custody and visitation orders also expire at 18. As a legal adult, you decide where you live and who you see, no matter what any prior custody arrangement said.

Juvenile Records After You Turn 18

Juvenile records do not disappear on your 18th birthday, but Virginia does provide a path to clearing them. Case files are confidential and stored separately from adult records, with access limited to judges, probation officers, attorneys in the case, and others with a court-approved legitimate interest.14Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 16.1-305 – Confidentiality of Court Records

For most juvenile offenses, the court clerk must automatically destroy the records once the person turns 19 and five years have passed since the last hearing. Traffic offenses reported to the DMV are kept until age 29. Records involving a delinquent act that would be a felony if committed by an adult are never automatically destroyed. If your case was dismissed or you were found not guilty, you can file a motion to have the records destroyed right away rather than waiting for the automatic timeline, and the court generally grants the motion unless the prosecutor shows a good reason to keep them.15Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 16.1-306 – Expungement of Court Records Once records are destroyed, Virginia law treats the offense as if it never happened, and you can legally say no record exists.

Things That Still Wait Until 21

Turning 18 does not unlock every adult privilege. Several sit behind higher age thresholds set by separate laws:

The gap is one of the more confusing stretches of becoming an adult. You can sign a mortgage and serve on a jury but not buy a beer. Each of these restrictions comes from its own statute with its own policy rationale, and reaching the general age of majority does not override any of them.1Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 1-204 – Age of Majority

Becoming an Adult Before 18

Virginia does allow a minor to gain most adult legal rights before 18 through court-ordered emancipation. To petition, you must be at least 16 and living in Virginia; a parent or guardian can also file on the minor’s behalf. The juvenile and domestic relations court holds a hearing and may grant emancipation if one of two conditions is met: the minor is on active duty in the armed forces, or the minor is living apart from their parents with parental consent and is capable of managing their own finances.19Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code Article 15 – Emancipation of Minors

An emancipated minor can enter contracts, consent to medical treatment, and control their own earnings. Emancipation does not override age-specific restrictions like the drinking age or the concealed handgun permit age.